Gracie, Freak of Nature
by Nadie2
Summary: Sequel to "Child of the Godslayers" and "Scar Stories".  When Gracie's little brother Carter breaks his leg, Gracie finds out she can heal him.  Carter is excitely waiting for his own, "Superpower," which leds to an unexpected connection.
1. Helping Hands

Healing Hands

Gracie's POV, Gracie is now 12 which means this is about six years after the end of the series.

If you haven't read "Child of the Godslayers" and at least the last chapter of "Scar Stories" you should do so before attempting this story. Or you will probably be majorly confused.

My fingers are fumbling over the buttons. It's ridiculous, I must have dialed Cassie's number a billion times. She's like a sister to me, a much older sister. Auntie Janet, Cassie's mom, died when I was four and Cassie was eighteen. Cassie lived with us for a few months before she went to college. Then of course she came back on all the school breaks. Cassie has done a serious amount of school. She's graduated from college twice, and then she moved into town to keep going to school, for a third graduation. She doesn't live with us anymore, but we still see her a lot.

In fact Cassie is our main babysitter. But finally after years of begging I got to babysit my little brother, Carter, by myself.

"She's in the ninth grade, all her friends have been babysitting for a while," Dad protest.

"Yes, and she's two years younger than all of those friends," Mom puts in.

"And way more responsible than them too," Dad adds in.

So finally, they let me babysit Carter. But as is always the case, things go wrong.

"Cassie," I'm all out of breath, but I finally got through to her, "you've got to come and take Carter to the base."

"What happened," she says in that voice she has, that voice which calms you down against you will. Cassie is great in emergencies. She's training to be a political scientist, a diplomat. Daddy says she's good at "putting out emotional fires."

"I think Carter's leg is broken," I say, trying to keep the panic down.

"Gracie, you have to call 911, and…"

"Cass, you know we can't go to any doctors but the ones on base," I say.

"Oh right," she says, sounding a touch panicked herself, "Listen, you stay with Carter, don't move him, and try and call your parents. I'll be right over."

I do what she says. I take the phone outside, and call my parents. I knew I wouldn't get ahold of them. You never do when they go away for half day work trips together. Of course I don't get to know where they are for real. All I hear is that they are on some diplomatic mission with faries or something. I'm getting too old to hear Daddy's fairy tales. But I know, it's all he can tell me about the "classified" nature of his job.

"Carter, don't move," I say sitting down next to him. I should have said no to skateboarding. Carter is six. Mom doesn't let him skateboard. But the thing is, Dad does. And come on I want to be the cool babysitter, so Carter wants me to do it again. I made Carter wear a bunch of gear. But they don't make femur guards, which is apparently what my little brother needs.

He looks up at me, "Gracie, didn't Daddy break a leg once?" he asks. He's asking for Daddy's fairy tales. I don't mind telling the things, just hearing them.

"I think maybe more than once, Carter, but I only know about once for sure," I respond.

"Yeah? What happened?" he asks.

"Well, Mom and Dad fell of the magic carpet while it was going over Antarctica. They were cold and in pain, and they couldn't figure out a way to get out."

"Super Sammy away finds a way out," Carter says.

I nod, and we keep telling the story for a little bit until we get to the part where Mom sets his leg.

"Will they have to do that to me?" he asks in a worried voice.

"I don't know Carter maybe," I say, even though I'm pretty sure the answer is yes.

"You do it now," he says looking at me with a lot of trust. Way too much trust.

"Carter, I am not at all qualified to set your leg. I'd have no idea what I was doing," I say.

"Just pretend, Gracie, so I'll know what to expect," he says. Carter really likes to run through new things before they happen. If he doesn't it makes him really nervous.

"Ok, Carter, it will be like this," I put my hands over his leg, but I don't touch it. Suddenly my hands start to glow. I pull back.

"What did you do Gracie?" Carter says with a stunned voice.

"I don't know, Carter," I say staring at my no longer glowing hands.

"Do it again Gracie," Carter says.

"I didn't do it on purpose, and…I'm not sure if it's something you want to have happen," I say.

"My leg feels way better," Carter says.

Ok, so maybe it's nuts, but I let my hands hover over Carter again. Again it starts to glow, and the weird shape of Carter's leg-goes back to normal.

"It's all better," Carter declares standing up, and trying his leg. Just then Cassie's car pulls up.

"Jeez Grace, you had me panicked. It's not broken if he can walk on it!"

"It was broken," I stay stunned.

"Legs don't unbrake," Cassie says.

"And hands don't glow," Carter says seriously, "But Gracie's do."

Cassie looks at my hands, which are at the moment doing nothing extraordinary. "Glowed?" she asks uncertainly. Carter and I both nod. "Glowed, and healed?" she asked uncertainly. We nod again. She reaches over and feels my forehead. Her face shows immense relief. "Ok, I'm driving you guys to base, get in."

"I don't want to go to the doctor, I'm all healed," Carter whines.

"Doctor is still going to want to check you out, Carter, but this trip is probably going to be more about your sister," Cassie says. We climb into her car, and she glances back to make sure we are both buckled in.

"Cassie," Carter asks, "What super power will I get when I grow up?" Cassie just laughs. But I don't. Because the things is…I may actually have a super power, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

When Dad takes us to the doctor, and it's always Dad never Mom who does it, he always blindfolds us and carries us there. Doesn't want us to see anything classified. But either Cassie doesn't know this rule, or more likely, she knows she can't carry both of us, and what we're dealing with is too important to care about that particular rule.

I think about Cassie. She's never really had any secrets. In fact she makes jokes about classified stuff I'm not allowed to know. I know there is a secret about Cassie, some big secret, I don't get to know. Not yet, maybe never. I know Mom and Dad found her, alone, in another country. But as much as Cassie does know, Cassie doesn't get to know the details. She no doubt actually knows where Mom and Dad go, and how they get there. But she probably don't know about the time Mom blew up a star, or when Mom disappeared playing with a map. Carter and I, we get to know these things. Even if we only know about them as fairy tales.

So Cassie leads us to the infirmary. I see her hesitate to go in. It's been eight years since she lost her mother, but I know she still hates going into this place, where her mother spent so much time. Cassie was planning on being a doctor, but that idea disappeared the day her mother died. She can't face that stuff now.

"I can take him in," I offer as she still stands frozen at the door.

"Hardly, Grace," she says taking a deep breath and marching through the door.

Dr. Lam is rushing around like always, but when she sees the three of us she stops, "What's wrong?"

"Ah, it's complicated, not an emergency, and I think we'd better talk to you. Also, you have a way to recall their parents I assume?" Cassie says.

Dr. Lam nods. She isn't easy to surprise. Actually it's pretty hard to surprise any of the people that work at the base. They take everything in stride. She goes into her office for a bit, talks to a few nurses, and then calls us in.

"So what is going on?" Dr. Lam asks Cassie.

"Ok, so I wasn't actually there. I think Grace better tell this story," Cassie says.

Great. I take a deep breath, "Ok, so I was babysitting Carter, and shouldn't have let him go skateboarding."

"Dad lets me!" Carter protests, his face turning red with anger.

"Ok, well anyway. Carter was skateboarding…" I continue.

"She made me wear all my gear, though," Carter interrupts.

"Yeah, and I was outside watching him, and he falls," I shut my eyes against the memory, "I'm pretty sure his leg was broken, the bones were laying like this," I show her with my hands, and Dr. Lam nods looking at Carters leg.

"And then her hands started glowing…" Carter continued.

"No, first I called Cassie, and tried to call mom and dad," I said. I needed all the responsibility points I could get, after all my brother broke his arm on my watch.

"Right, and then she came and sat by me, and was telling me stories to distract me," Carter put in.

"He wanted me to show him what it would be like to have his leg set. But I didn't want to hurt him, so I just put my hand above his leg to show him," I said slowly.

"And it started to glow!" Carter explained.

"And I pulled my hand away. But he said it made his leg feel better, so…so I did it again," I said.

"And my leg unbroked itself," Carter proclaimed.

"Ok," Dr. Lam said, "Here iswhat we are going to do. I'm going to take an x-ray of Carter's leg. I'm also going to want a blood sample from you Grace. Your parents will be here in an hour or so, and we'll discuss this more than. Ok?" She looks at us. No doubt looking for signs of panic. Carter isn't going to show any. He thinks he's living inside of a comic book or something. I'm freaking out, but I'm not going to let her see that. Nope, I'm playing it as calm as a cucumber, even though I'm freaking out.

Cassie stands next to me as they take the blood. There are very few people who know about my secret fear of needles, not even Dad. But Cassie and mom know. So Cassie tells me a story about her mother as they draw my blood. She knows it will distract me, because I don't remember her mother, and no one ever talks about her.

Then Carter is going in for his x-ray. He asks the technician for a description of how it works. The technicians says, "It takes a picture of your insides."

Carter stares at him for a second. Probably deciding if the man was smart enough to answer his question. Then he says, "Yes, but why does the x-ray go through my skin and muscle but not the bone, is it because it's more dense?"

The technician blinks at him, stunned. People working at the SGC, don't often work with kids. Let along gifted kids. Let alone Carter.

"Yeah, Carter," I say, "And if you have other dense things in you, like the medal Daddy has in him from the time a bomb exploded around him, you can see that in an x-ray too," the technician's really shocked now, "Actually Carter, it's not that the more dense stuff stop it. The x-rays just go through them more slowly. You can sorta see through the bones on a x-ray."

He nods. The technician takes his x-ray, and I wished I was fearless like my baby brother. After Carter's x-ray I sit with him in the waiting room. He crawls up on my lap, and asks for a Super Sammy story. But I know I shouldn't tell one of those here. I know Dad shouldn't have really told those stories at all, and he could get in trouble if someone found out that I know. So I distract him with some real fairy tales. Poor kid never even heard of Rumplesteskin, I've been neglecting some of my big sisterly duties.

Dad and Mom come spinning around the corner, dressed in ridiculous matching potato colored gowns. They look panicked. Mom sits down in the chair next to us, while Dad focuses on Cassie, and remains standing.

"What happened?" he asks her.

"You ok?" Mom asks us looking us over for obvious signs of trauma.

"We're fine, seriously, fine," I say, and Cassie nods.

"Well, next time reword the message, 'Your kids are in the infirmary' is the kind of thing that makes a parents heart stop," Dad says.

"Didn't word the message, Jack," Cassie says.

"I broked my leg," Carter proclaims. I'm pretty convinced Carter uses bad grammar on purpose. Because bad grammar is like nails on a chalk board to Dad. It gets his attention in a way nothing else really does.

"What?" Dad says looking as Cassie.

But Carter's gotten used to telling this story already, "But Grace glowed and fixed me," he proclaims.

Mom's examining Carter's leg, but Dad's eyes are locked on mine.

"Glowed?" he repeats.

I nod. And for the first time all day I don't try to hide the fact that I am terrified. Dad sits down, and signals for me to join him. I shift Carter onto Mom's lap and go over and sit by Dad.

"Your healed your brother?" he asks.

I nod.

"Freaking out?" he asks.

I nod again, and breathe hard to keep the tears from coming.

"It's ok, Gracie, we'll get this figured out," he says putting his arm around me.

I put my head into his shoulder, and whisper the question I've been dying to since it happened, "Daddy, am I really your daughter?"

He pulls me away, to look me in the eye, "Of course you are, what made you ask such a question?"

"I don't know, after today….I just thought maybe you found me in another country and adopted me…like Cassie," I stammered.

"No, Grace, you are mine and your mothers," he says soothing my head down against his shoulder.

"But if I was like, I don't know, and alien or something, you'd tell me right?" I ask.

"Alien? Where are you getting this from? Did Cassie…" but he stops himself, "You are not an alien. Listen Gracie, this whole glowing hand thing, if anything it proves all the more you are my daughter. But there was never any doubt." He kisses my forehead.

"Your hands glow, Dad?" I ask.

"No Gracie, well actually yes, just once, but that was different. This it's a genetic thing, we'll talk about it later," he says.

"So you knew this would happen? Would have been nice to have a heads-up. 'Hey Gracie, someday you're going to develop super powers.'"

"Not exactly knew, but not exactly surprised either. I do have some questions about how exactly this happened."

"So how did you break your leg?" I hear Mom asking Carter.

Shut my eyes, "My fault. I let him skateboard."

Mom looks angry. But Dad breaks in, "Not your fault Gracie. Sam, I let Carter skateboard before." He looks at me, "You did nothing wrong, Gracie, accidents happen."

"Yeah, and she made me where even more gear than you Dad," Carter says with a grin.

Mom's calmed down a little, "Well you did the responsible thing in telling us, Gracie. And I hear you took good care of him after it happened."

"So I can babysit again?" I asked.

Mom laughs a little, "Not right away sweetie."

Then Dr. Lam came by, "Ok, Sam, Jack, I think I have a handle on what is going on. Come to my office. Cassie you'll watch them?" she asks.

I can't believe it. Their hands didn't glow.

"I'm coming too." I say. They are all staring at me.

"Gracie, it's classified," Mom tries.

"Ok, and I get that. But six years is a long time to wait to figure out why your hands glow and heal people. I can keep a secret you know, and I seriously think I deserve to know what is going on," I say.

"She's right, Sam," Dad says. Dr. Lam shrugs.

"Hey, can I come too. I might glow someday," Carter says running after me.

"Ok, Carter, if you start to glow, I promise I will tell you what is going on. Right now, go see if Cassie knows the story of Jack and the Beanstalk." There is actually a pretty good chance she doesn't. For some reason Cassie just missed all the stuff little kids are supposed to know. She blames it on growing up in Canada before mother adopted her. I don't think Cassie is from Canada.

We all sit down. There is a moment of silence.

"Ok, so this is obviously related to the ancient gene," Dad says.

"What?" I ask.

"Umm…Danny's glowy guardian angel," Dad starts.

"Don't tell her that, Jack, that's ascended, not ancient. So there were some things kind of like humans, but not. They were around a long, long time ago, and built…" mom starts.

"Some pretty cool stuff, Gracie. Anyway they are all dead now, but they were called ancients. And I have the ancient gene which I gave to you," he smiles.

"Ok, but if we both have the gene why does it make my hands glow and yours not? Unless it's recessive in which case I would have got a similar gene from…"

"Don't have the ancient gene, Grace," Mom cuts in.

"No, but you do have naquada in your blood. It appears that when someone has naquada in their blood and the ATA gene they end up with enhanced abilities," Dr. Lam says.

"Makes sense," Dad says, "Naquada is the gate element, and the ancients are the gate builders."

"Carter?" Mom asks.

"Yes, he also inherited the ATA gene from Jack, and the naquada from Sam," she said.

"Carter will be thrilled," Dad says

"Why does ATA gene plus naquada equal freak of nature?" I ask.

The look at me for a long time, "The ancients could do some pretty cool stuff, Gracie," Dad starts carefully.

"Like heal people with glowing hands," Mom offers.

I wait. I've found you can get all kinds of information by waiting until people get nervous. "And reading each other's minds," Mom says looking down. "Move things with their minds," Dad put in, "and they're pretty good at meditation," Dad says.

"They know their way around technology," Mom says with a smile.

"So all this is coming?" I asked wondering if telepathy comes with an off switch.

"I don't think so," Dr. Lam said. We all breathed a sigh of relieve. "We think this results in gaining one power, at random."

I'm panicking, just a little.

"It's a lot to take in," Mom says locking eyes with me. I know that look in her eye. She's desperate to protect me, and can't. I've been seeing that look more and more as I get older. I give her a smile.

Dr. Lam smiles at me, and waits a bit before she continued, "Now Gracie, it's not that we don't believe your brother and you. But no one but you has seen it…" she starts.

"I can't just make them glow," I say holding them out, "I've tried."

"I know, I think you need a real injury to work on. I have a good candidate. Injury we can't fix, non lethal, non contagious."

"No," Mom's voice is clear and strong.

"Sam, I'm not talking about doing it all the time," Dr. Lam said.

"No," Mom says again.

"Mom, if I can do this…I want to help people," I say.

"No," Mom says.

Dad shuts his eyes, and then turns to me, "We met an Ancient once. We all got a disease. She healed us, but…she died from the effort."

"Oh," I said stunned by the fact that this might not be a weird thing, but fatal.

"There were complications that time. She was thousands of years old, and possibly sick with the disease she was trying to heal. I would never put Gracie at risk. I just want to know what we're dealing with. We'll make sure we'll space the healings," Dr. Lam said seriously.

Mom is glaring. Dad looks unconvinced.

"Ok, guys, if I'm going to have this super power for the rest of my life I will be using it, wouldn't you rather I did it with medical advice?"

They nod, reluctantly. Mom touches my shoulder, "Please stop calling it a super power Gracie," she mutters.

I nod. But I still will in my head, or else I'm just a freak with glowing hands.

We meet Murray and we are leaving the infirmary and he's looking worried. "I heard my namesake was injured," he says.

"I don't see why you keep calling him that," I say, "Carter is named after mom."

He raises an eyebrow, "You are incorrect Gracie O'Neill, 'Carter' refers to Jacob Carter."

I was somewhat taken back by this, but I say, "Ok, so he was named for our Grandpa."

"I refer to his middle name," Murray says.

"That's Teal, a color, probably Dad's favorite. Nothing to do with you," I retort.

"Your father's favorite color is peridot," he says without making any sort of facial expression.

"Ok, Mom's favorite then," he shakes his head "Still Teal is nothing like Murray," I say.

"Indeed," Murray replies, with that face he makes, which is as close as he ever gets to a smile.


	2. Daddy's Knees and Mom's Fingers

Daddy's Knees & Mom's Fingertips

I figured this was coming when they told me to go get ready for bed. I haven't gone to bed this early in a really long time. Dad comes and sits down on the bed next to me.

"Still overwhelmed?" he asks. I nod. "Ok, well, I figure you've found out some secrets, I'll tell you all the stuff you really need to know. But if you'd rather wait…"

"You gonna tell me why I was sick as a baby?" I ask. Daddy flinches. I know it isn't the whole reason, but I still say, "Sorry about the grammar Dad."

"It's ok, Grace. You're still a little young for that story. But if you want, I don't know. I fell like this is your coming of age or something," he says grinning at me.

"Yeah, I want to know."

He sits there quietly for a minute looking at me.

"What?" I ask.

"Just afraid you might hate me in a half hour," he says quietly.

"I could never hate you Dad," I say.

"Ok, Grace so, I'm not doing this with fairy tales, you deserve to know. We were on another planet," Dad says.

"Country," I correct.

"No, Gracie, no fairy tales tonight. We were on another planet," he says.

I stare at him, "So magic rug was a code word for spaceship? You guys are astronauts?" Uncle Danny an astronaut-not able to picture that.

"I used magic carpet for a lot of things, not always a spaceship Gracie, and not this time. There is a big circle called a Stargate. It creates a-let's see how well I've been listening to your mother over the years-stable worm whole which bends space time and allows us to go across the galaxy."

I'm staring at him unblinking. "I thought we weren't doing the fairy tale thing anymore."

"We're not Gracie," he says.

"So Cassie is…"I start.

"An alien, from another planet, Yeah, so is Teal'c," he says.

"And Teal'c is…" I say.

"Sorry, you know him as Uncle Murray," Dad says.

"And the scar on his belly is…" I prompt.

"From something horrible and nasty, which does not exist anymore, and which I don't want to discuss tonight," he says. "I'll tell you another time."

"Ok," I nod. "But you and mom, Daniel, Cameron, Vala, Grandpa George, all human right?"

"Yeah, apart from Vala, uh, well she's human. Just not earth human. Cassie's human too though Grace, but all the other people you just mentioned are humans from earth."

"Ok," I said. I just kept saying the same stupid thing over and over, but ok was all I could manage.

"So on to time, I nearly killed you," I didn't believe it, but it still hurt my stomach to hear my dad say that, "We were on a planet, and someone offered me cake."

"Seriously, Dad cake?" I said.

He smiles, "You know how I feel about cake Gracie." The he grows serious, "But that was my first mistake. This alien-human alien mind you, I'm no Captain Kirk-offered me the cake, and said it was just for me." He stands up, and is now telling the story to a wall, "It was drugged, Gracie. I barely remember the dance thing she did next-but apparently it was a marriage ceremony."

"NO! STOP!" I get up, and I'm halfway out of the room before Dad catches me around the waist.

"Wow! Gracie! What's the matter? It wasn't like I was really married. And you knew I was married, really married to Sarah-for years. Didn't think that's the part that would freak you out."

I'm sobbing, "Dad! I can't believe you waited this long to tell me that Mom is not my mom!"

"Gracie Grace," he says holding me, "Cynthia is not your mother. Samantha Carter O'Neill is your mother. Jack O'Neill is your father. I promise you that is the truth, stop doubting it. Ok?"

"You were just telling me the story of how you gave me a disease, and we got to the part where you go off with another woman…"

"Ok, Grace, I'm not telling this story very well. But keep in mind this was over two years before you were born. So I guess you guessed the next part of the story," he says with a cough, "And then they all passed out."

"They, Dad?"

"I was with just Cynthia at the time," he says guessing the reason for my horror, "but yeah, they, her whole planet passed out all at once. Then I pass out a little later."

"The rest of your team?" I ask.

"No, they were fine," he says. "So, they figured it was probably a disease..."

I nod, "Spread by the exchange of bodily fluids."

He shuts his eyes, "God this is a hard talk to have. I'm kind of wishing I'd taken your mother up on the offer to tell you. Only….I think she would have gone easy on me. I need you to know it all. So, yeah, that's how the disease was spread. And it didn't just make you pass out at night, and get up in the morning, although it definitely did that. But it also, it also made you get old fast. The people on that planet only lived for-100 days." He's now focused on me, "They thought that 100 days was normal. They couldn't imagine living longer Gracie. But I was a heck of a lot older than 100 days Gracie. So, it aged me really fast."

"And Super Sammy made a cure," I said.

"Expect this isn't the fairy tale. In real life things are never fast and easy and smooth. She saved me. But it wasn't easy. Sam took samples back to the base. They almost escaped containment. We could have killed the whole world. My actions had consequences. I messed up, and mess ups don't just go away."

"Dad, I can't believe there is a moral lecture in this story," I say.

He sighs, "I know, totally hypocritical, Grace. But you are my daughter, that's how these things work."

"Ok, so Mom finally saves the day," I say wanting to get away from the intensity of his eyes.

"Yeah, well Cassie's Mom, your mother, and your father saved the day on this one, long as we're are being honest."

"Yeah, I figured you saved the day pretty often," I say.

"Not often, and this time the only reason I was able to help, was because I was quarantine on a planet with a bunch of people who were for all practical purposes infants," he said, "I almost died. But we found a way to shut off the nanites."

"Nanities?" I ask.

"Yeah, sorry little tiny robots were what were aging me. Little things put there by the bad guys, the Gou'ald that are all dead, and that we aren't discussing tonight. Those people were a science experiment, Gracie."

"That why you hate scientists, Dad?" I ask.

"I thought you knew, Gracie Grace; I never really hated scientists."

I closed my eyes for a second. There was something freeing in that.

"You had to know that Grace! I married one, my best friend is a scientist, and have one for a daughter!" he says.

"I'm not a scientist, Dad," I say.

"You are, Grace. You might not get paid for it yet, but you are a scientist," and he smiles. He may not love science, but he does loves scientists.

"Anyway, we turned off the nanities, and we were so sure they were inactive. Grace, we never imagined they would ever show up again," he says looking me right in the eye.

I smile at him, trying to make it lighter, "And along came Grace!"

"God, Grace, we were worried," and he looks different than I've ever seen him look. "I thought I'd killed you."

"Daddy, it wouldn't have been your fault."

"Actions have consequences, Grace, it would have been my fault. And I am just lucky, lucky beyond all measure, than you didn't die, because of my mistake."

"Daddy," I say, and he's crying. Parents should not cry. "Daddy I'm right here. Not dead." He's calm after a bit, and I tell him what I know he wants, "Daddy I forgive you.

"Shouldn't be easy, Grace. If forgiveness is easy it probably isn't real."

"Dad I forgive you for having sex with an alien you hardly knew."

Dad's coughing really hard, "Gracie, you know that word?"

"Sex?" I ask, "Yeah, health class Dad. But why didn't they rescue you? I mean Mom and Daniel Murray-er Teal'c were there?"'

"Yeah, well Gracie, they didn't…"

"They didn't know you were drugged," I offered.

"Yeah, they didn't," he said. Suddenly I thought occurred to me.

"Even if you weren't drugged, I'd forgive you Dad."

He smiles at me, "Grace, that means a whole lot. But I was drugged."

"Ok, well, then forgiven Daddy," I say.

Then a sudden thought occurred to me. I placed my hands on Dad's knees, and my hands started to glow.

"No, Gracie," he says shaking his head. "Not worth it."

"Come on Dad, you knees have hurt forever, I can fix it."

"Not worth the risk," he repeats.

"Shut up Dad," I say, and I place my hands on his knees. This time he doesn't try to resist. When they were healed he said, "But I am calling Lam to push back your official test back. Two healings in one day is too much," he says.

He stands up, and bends his knees a couple of times. "Man that feels good, Gracie, I might get confused, and think I'm a young man."

"Dad, you told me I was born on a magic carpet," I say.

He smiles, "We had a little alien ship called a death glider. Two actually, Teal'c and a buddy of his Brata'c they flew them to earth after we blew up two big, and I mean huge, enemy ships, Gracie girl," he says taking a seat on the edge of my bed again. "Well, a couple years later we took those two broken ships, and we made them into one ship that flew. Teal'c and I went up in it for a test run. What we didn't know is that," his teeth clench, "Nasty thing we aren't going to talk about, had put a recall device. Long story short Teal'c and I are shooting through space without control of the ship." He grins, "Your mother is pregnant with you, due in a week, huge," he said expanding his hands, "Just huge. They figure out a way to save me. A long shot, but most of our plans were long shots. Daniel is going to go to an alien planet to get these-well, you know them as pixie's Grace. But really they are things that are just like the bad guys, except, well they aren't bad. Or rather, I don't know, Grace, Tok'ra are going to take some time to explain it to you. Anyway, we're friends with them. Grandpa Jacob is one of them."

"Grandpa Jacob is an alien? I'm ¼ alien?"

"Yes, and no, Grandpa Jacob had an alien sharing his body, Grace. A parasitic, you know what, I go back to my original statement, not talking about snakeheads tonight. Rest assured that you are 100% human-earth human, lordy, girl, you keep trying to weasel out of being part of this family! Anyway, so Daniel's going off to save me, and your mother, your big pregnant mother, goes through the gate with him. Against the will of command, of course. To a world crawling with snake head bad guys, and one snake head good guy-your Grandfather, actually. So Grandpa scoops them up, and they head off to save me in Grandpa's ship. Bigger than the little one Teal'c and I were in, much smaller than the big ones that we blew up. By the time they get there we are twelve hours past the time where we should have run out of air and died. But that's the way it goes sometimes. There are chances after your chances have run out. I'm almost out of oxygen, and I look out, and there is your mother."

"My huge mother," I add.

That's right he grins, "Huge with you. She says, 'Do you trust me Jack?' and I do. It's good I did. You know what your plan was? Of course you don't. See there are these things, that…" he shuts his eyes, "Ok ring transporters are surprisingly hard to explain, if you saw one you'd know. They ah," he makes a sound and runs his hands down and then up, "like that, but with a bright light, and then you are somewhere else."

I'm staring at him like he's nuts.

"Oh, never mind, I give up. Anyway, your Mom told us take a deep breath from the last of our oxygen, and push off into space-no space suit, no air, no nothing. We're out there just floating. But it's only for a second, and then there we are, in the other space ship. Crazy plan Gracie, unbelievable crazy plan, but here I am. And then your mother's water breaks," he laughs, "She's in LABOR. We are light years away from earth, and here you come! Gracie, your timing!" he says with a laugh. "Your mom is the calmest one on the ship. Your grandpa, is driving the ship. He's leaning forward like that will get us there faster. Daniel is delivering you. Uncle Danny, Grace! And me, I'm there holding your Mom's hand. Teal'c he's up there with Jacob, avoiding the whole thing." Dad laughs, "You know childbirth makes Jaffa squirm?"

"Jaffa?" I ask.

He hits his head, "Never mind about Jaffa tonight Gracie. Just know that Uncle Murray is Jaffa, very Jaffa. Anyway, there you were. Born on an alien ship. You were ten hours old when you got to earth for the first time." He looks at me with that swoony face that parents use sometimes, "There is something in that. You know there aren't many other souls on earth who can claim they were born somewhere else. You come from the stars, don't forget that," he says kissing me.

"Did Mom get in trouble for going through the gate?"

He smiles, "She should have of course, but Daniel lied for her, and Grandpa George pretended to believe it even though he'd have to be stupid to. And your Grandpa George isn't a stupid man."

"Generals never are," I reply. He laughs a little at that. "Love ya, Dad," I say.

"You too, Grace, more than anything."

So the next morning I go down to breakfast. Dad's leaping around the kitchen like an impala. Mom is furious. I can tell, because she's doing dishes. Scrubbing dishes that aren't even dirty. When she finishes with one she takes another out of the cupboard.

"Mom, chill out, and hand me your hand with the electric scars," I said reaching toward her.

"Grace, No," she's furious with me, "No, Grace, stop healing people right now. Especially unimportant stuff like old scars."

"Mommy," I said, "You haven't felt anything in your right finger tips in years."

Dad is giving her some kind of a look, "Seriously, Sam? How come I didn't know about this?"

I reach for her hand, she pulls back like _I'm_ electrocuting her.

Dad shakes his head, "Ok Gracie, we've got to form some rules. I shouldn't have let you heal me last night. We should say at least a week between healings, and only healing those with proper security clearance. Plenty of time to heal your mother later, when it is safe for you."

Dad dances out of the kitchen.

"Mom, I get it you know," I said to her.

"No," she sighs, "Gracie you can't get this."

"Mom, when you go to work every day I know you are doing incredibly dangerous things," she's looking at me, I have her full attention now, "I know that you are in danger. It could drive me crazy. But it doesn't. Do you know why?" Her eyes are focused on me, "Because you are Super Sammy. Not like in Daddy's stories. I know that. I've known that for a long time. But what I mean is. You help people. You save people. A lot of people. What is it? Through your life? How many? Thousands? Millions? More? Of course, whole worlds, and this one more than once. And I could have you safe every day, but then they would all die. I'm not that selfish Mom. And I trust you. I know you love me. I know that-that you are going to try really hard to come home. That you aren't going to do something stupid and die. That-you want to come home as bad as I want you to. That's how I live with it. And you should trust me to. I don't have a death wish, Mom. I'm not even tired after the healings. But you have to understand that this-this is pretty amazing. And if I just keep it to myself, people will die. People I could have saved. That would be wrong Mom. So I get it. I'm your baby girl, you want to protect me, keep my safe. But I want to be safe too, and I can save these people."

She takes me into her arms, "Oh, Grace," she says resting her chin on the top of my head, "Why did you have to go and make sense?" She extends her hand to me, a peace offering. A symbol of trust. I cup her hand in one of mine, and hold the other one over it. My hand glows, and I'm healing her. But I'm not so surprised this time, and I let myself focus on the healing. I noticed last night, that when I heal it is more than just something physical. It's mental. It's a connection. I can feel her fingers. Not with my hand, but with my brain. I can see the nerves, all the places that have gone wrong. I can fell the repairs. I can guide the repairs.

"Gracie," Mom says softly. I open my eyes. I'm still holding her hand, but the healing is over. I think it might have been over for a while. "You ok?"

"Yeah, Mom I was just…I can see the healing. It's like science," I said, because I really wanted to share it with her, "How we've talked about being able to picture molecules and atoms, and the beauty of it. How I told you about the video I play in my head of DNA replicating? It's like that, Mom. It's like that except, I don't know, I think it's real. I could see the damage; I could see the damage being fixed. Dead nerves coming back to life," I'm excited now, "It's like magic."

Mom looks at me, I know she wants to understand. Probably even more wants me to think she is understanding. But I also know that she isn't understanding.

Mom takes her left hand and pinches the fingers in her right hand. One at a time starting with the pointer, and working her way to the pinkie. "Thanks Gracie," she says, "You will be careful with this?"

I nod.

"Are you tired?"

I shake my head.

"Headache?"

"Mom, I'm fine," I say.

"I trust you Gracie," she says kissing me on my forehead. She has a sad distracted look on her face. "I thought it was hard to watch your father go into battle. But it was never that hard when I was right there with him. It felt like, as crazy as it was, I could protect him from anything. He never had a problem either when we were on the same team. Every time we went on missions apart it nearly killed us. When he took a desk job, and I kept going out, the man worried. We are warriors Grace. We like to face our enemies head on. We don't do well with quiet threats. We don't like things we can't fix. I'm never really going to be ok with his."

Dad comes back, and pours himself a cup of coffee. She takes the coffee cup out of his hand, "Jack the last thing you need is a stimulant." He doesn't even protest, and he keeps moving like Tigger.

She glares at him. He says, "Sam, I haven't had good knees for twenty years, could ya give me a break?" and then he puts out her hands to her, she smiles a little, but tires to hide it. She's still trying to act mad. She may have forgiven me for healing him, but she hasn't forgiven him for being healed. But he's dancing with her. Prancing around with her. She's laughing, and she leans against his strong chest. His fingers glide over her right fingers, giving her a massage he thinks she can't feel.

"Grace healed them," she says. He pulls away from her and looks at her in confusion. "Gracie pointed out to me…" she sighed, "That I do dangerous things to save people, and she should be able to too."

"The difference, Sam, is that you are an adult who understands risk to reward relationships, and our daughter is twelve," he said.

"Mmm….Gracie said I should trust her," Mom said with a smile.

Dad looks at me, "So the only question left is, does your Daddy trust you or love you more Gracie girl?"

I look at him, "What kind of love do you love me with? Selfish or sacrificial?"

Dad is staring at me open mouthed, "Grace," he said shaking his head, "You are all together to good at talking. I'm cutting you off from your Uncle Daniel until you are through your teenage years. Otherwise your mother and I might not make it. You're dangerous like this."

"So I can heal?" I ask excitedly.

"Controlled, infrequent healing," Dad cautions. And I'm hugging them both.

The SGC infirmary has become my favorite place on the planet. And that is saying something since I've never left the planet-at least not since I was ten hours old. It's been five months since I become Gracie freak of nature-girl of the glowing hands. A few times a week, when I'm finished with my homework, and my chores are done, one of my parents will take me here.

Sometimes my patient is waiting for me, and Dr. Lam ushers me over there pale faced and thin lipped. Those are the times when I know there will only be one healing, and sometimes, I can't even finish one. I wouldn't heal someone until I'm sick, or else I'll never see this place again. No, when Lam is serious I know there is someone in the corner bed hooked to machines waiting for me. Someone drifting on the line between life and death. Then my hands, and my mind pull them back from the brink. The more I do it the more I realize the healing is not primarily a mechanical process. My brain is sending energy signatures to people's body, and that is what heals them. It's a beautiful thing. More beautiful than watching DNA replicating.

Other times there is no one in desperate need. Sometimes I erase the scars soldiers have earned defending our planet. Other times I sit and read Dr. Lam's medical journals. The reading and the healing-they mesh together as once. The illustrations in the books-they are the things that I am molding with my mind when I heal.

Once when I was there they brought in someone who had just been shot with some alien weapon. Some alien weapon that no one understood. Dr. Lam started giving orders in that way doctors do-confident and terrified all at once. I think she forgot I was there. I stepped back. She pealed out the barb like not-a bullet with scalpels and surgery. There was a lot of blood, and I saw that I had been wrong to stand back. I took a step forward. One doctor, two nurses, and an orderly step back to make room for one twelve year old girl. My hands start go glow and my mind starts to heal. I'm terrified I wouldn't have enough energy. But my strength holds out until the end. My hand turn off-a telltale sign that the healing is done-at the same moment the dizziness in my head informs me I've healed as much as I can.

I step back, and the whole room is silent. My hands were so close to the wound that there is blood on them. It wasn't the first life that I saved. But it was the first one that was coding. It was the first life that was not sitting on life support waiting for me to save them.

Giving life to someone-it is indescribable. Indescribable, and addicting.

There is also the ones I can't save. I've fighting for their life. Dragging them back from the brink. Repairing them, cell by cell. But so many cells are damaged. Too much needs to be fixed, and I feel the dizziness before I am done. I want to fight through it. Healing a body-binds you to a soul. You feel the pull of it, you feel them. Their longing to live-strong in some which helps, weak in others which mean you must fight harder-save them against their will. But sometimes, sometimes the will to live is strong, and I cannot save them. Those are the ones that break my heart.

I told my mother once that my first love was the physical sciences. First, but not best. These hands, this mind, belong to a doctor.


	3. Telepathic Brothers and Other Horrors

Telepathic Brothers and Other Horrors

Grace's POV

Grace is now 18 Carter is 12, making this 12 years after the end of the series

A/N-I made a modification to the first chapter. I decided it made more sense for Gracie and Carter to have these powers, because of a combination of Jack's ancient gene and the naquada in Sam's blood.

There must be some law that every time I babysit my younger brother all hell breaks loose. I guess it's only fair. I got my freaky ancient powers while babysitting Carter, so he should too. I just seriously have one question. Why on earth does he end up with-telepathy? Of all the special cool things he could get he ends up with the one that is really and truly obnoxious!

His abilities are limited. I don't know if he'll be able to overcome the limits with time or not. But for now he can only access what I'm currently thinking. You may think there is a benefit in that, but there really isn't. See it turns out that when you know someone is reading your mind it is almost impossible to keep out of you mind the things you don't want them to know.

Within minutes my little brother is privy to all my deepest and darkest secrets. And he's teasing me about them all.

"You cheated on a math test! You cheated!" he screams dancing, "So going to tell Mom!"

"That was one time in third grade. I didn't study, because Mom was in the infirmary. Now I'm a junior in college, Carter. Nobody cares!"

"Oh, I'm betting Mom and Dad are still going to care, Grace. In fact Dad might do the whole integrity thing, and go tell you third grade teacher. Oh, and Dad's definitely going to care about Zack."

"!' I say. There was a time when my little brother listened to me. When me saying his name like that was more than enough to stop whatever evil plot he had. That time is long gone.

"Aren't you not supposed to date anyone until he's passed the Dad/Daniel/Murray triple interrogation squad?" he asks with a smirk.

"Carter, no one passes the Dad/Daniel/Murray triple interrogation squad. They are enough to intimidate anyone. One of the guys who wanted to date me SWITCHED SCHOOLS after they were done with him. I'm eighteen, I pick my own boyfriends. And you are not going to tell."

"Oh really?" he says, crossing his arms, "And why exactly is that?"

"Because if you do, I'll tell them….I'll tell them….about how you don't wear a helmet when you skateboard."

"Here is the thing about blackmail, Gracie, I have unlimited amount of dirt on you, but you don't have the same advantage," he says grinning.

"I am however strong and faster," I say running after him. But here is the thing about telepathy-it kind of removes the element of surprise. Finally I give up. He spends the rest of the afternoon picking my brain. He finds out a lot of classified stuff that they'd probably be telling him before too long anyway.

When Mom and Dad get home we are both shouting at them at once.

"Grace has a boyfriend!" Carter yells.

"Mom, would you tell him reading other people's minds is unethical?" I shout at the same time.

"So is cheating on a test," he retorts.

"So is beating up your little brother, but that never bothered me," I threated.

Dad steps between us, "Hold it. What is going on? We're going to answer in alphabetical order today, Carter first," he says.

"I have telepathy," he says grinning.

"And he's been reading my mind all afternoon," I complain.

"Telepathy," Mom says with eyebrows raised like Teal'c.

"So what's Gracie's boyfriend like? Good guy or do I have to go beat the crap out of him?" Dad asks Carter.

"Dad!" I scold at the same moment Mom says, "Jack!"

"Reasonable question," he says with a grin. Then he turns to Carter, "Stop spying on your sister."

"That is not fair," Carter whines, "Grace gets to use her powers!"

"My power is heal people, yours is invading people's privacy," I say.

"I didn't pick it!" He screams. Damn. I didn't even think of that. I'd probably be pretty ticked off if my power was something I didn't get to use. Especially if I was Carter who waited six years for his super power.

"Look, there will be times when you can use it. Just not on me ok?" I say looking at him, trying to let him know that I got it.

"When Grace? When will it be ok?"

"I don't know Carter. I mean someday it you go through the Stargate or something…." I stay.

"Right, because it would be a terrific plan to do this to civilizations we are trying to impress," he says rolling his eyes.

"All's fair in love and war, Carter, you could do it to civilization we're fighting with. Or you could be like a psychologist or something."

"That doesn't sound ethical either, Grace. Face it, I can never do anything with this 'power'. Besides, what I didn't tell you before is that I can't actually stop it. The best I can do is sort of ignore it like you might ignore someone talking. So as unethical as it is. I can't help it,' he says. And Carter is sobbing.

"Carter," Mom says putting her arm around him.

"I know you would, Mom," he says replying to something she only thought to him.

"We'll get this figured out," Dad says, smiling at him. "We'll go see Dr. Lam in the morning."

"I think I'll head up to my room and get away from other people's thoughts for a while," Carter says.

He leaves the room and we are all quiet for about a minute. Then Dad turns to me, "So...when do we get to meet this Zack?"

"Never Dad," I reply.

"Grace, you know my rules about boys…" Dad begins.

"Leave her alone Jack. She's eighteen, and no boy will ever survive your interrogation," Mom says.

"Cassie's husband did, and James is a great guy. A great guy!" Dad says.

"Zack is a great guy too," I say imitating him, "That doesn't mean I'm going to hand him over for sacrifice!"

"We are not that bad Grace," Dad protests.

"Yeah you are," I say stomping out of the room. I can't believe my own father is using my brother's abilities to torture me.

Once I get upstairs I pick up the phone, "Zack," I say.

"What's wrong?" he can tell just by my voice. Love that!

"My brother is a snoop!" I say, "Found out about you, and told my parents."

"Did he read your diary or something?" Zack asks.

"Something like that," I say with a sigh, "Now my Dad wants to meet you."

"So, I've been trying to get you to let me meet your parents for MONTHS." He says.

"I know, but you don't get this. I'm trying to protect you. It's not just going to be my parents. In fact Mom wouldn't be allowed in at first, because Dad thinks she's too sympathetic. No, at first it will only be Dad, and his two friends, Daniel and Murray. These three were all in the Air Force. Murray still is. They are all-terrifying. Murray is perhaps the most terrifying individual I've ever met. I've known him to make hardened criminals turn themselves in with a look and a whisper in the ear, Zack."

"You think I'm a wuzz?" Zack asked.

"How did you get that from what I just said? I told you Uncle Murray is the most terrifying individual known to man. I'm not going to let you enter a staring contest with him. That is my final word," I say.

"Mmm….Well, you should probably tell them I'm coming to dinner tomorrow, because I am."

"Zack!" I protest.

"So tell me about what else Carter found out about," he says, trying to distract me. That is something I seriously wish I could tell him about. Zach and I have been dating for almost half a year now. We talk about everything, except, not really. Because, he thinks I go the infirmary to do an internship with Dr. Lam. He doesn't know I'm really healing people with semi magical powers. He knows my parents work for the Air Force (or dad did before he finally retired, as Dad says fourth times the charm). But he doesn't know that my parent's job involved routinely saving the entire planet. He also doesn't know that one of the people staring him down tomorrow night is going to be a Jaffa. Part of a race bread to terrify, torture, and dismember. Ok, slight exaggerating, but not really.

"Just stuff….I cheated on a spelling test in third grade…stuff like that." I say. But really it was mostly top secret missions my parents went on. Missions Carter had already heard about as fairy tales. Missions he'd be told about if he asked now that he was twelve and had his 'super power.' Really, no harm was done. I'd have to apologize to Carter later.

"That's your deepest darkest secret Grace? You are such a goody two shoes!" Zach says, "Listen Grace, I'd love to talk more, but I have this killer chemistry test tomorrow. I'll be over to your house for dinner tomorrow though, ok?"

"Zach, you really don't have to," I say.

"Grace, I want a future with you, future includes your parents," he says.

"Well, I hope you still like me this time tomorrow," I say.

"No question Grace, no question."

He hangs up and I knock on Carter's door.

"Go away, Grace," he says.

"I want to say sorry," I said.

"I know that Grace, mind reader, remember," he says from the other side of the door.

"Carter, I didn't think about what this was like for you, I'm sorry."

He opens the door, "Right now you aren't thinking about how I want to be alone either."

"I know you said you want to be alone, but if I were you I'd want someone who understood to come and sit with me," I said.

"You understand this?" he says with spite.

"No, but I probably can get closer than most people." I'm about to explain more but he looks at me, and I know he is understanding better than with mere words. I'm telling him about what it was like to heal people. He can see it, see the way it looks in my mind-the dead cells reviving, the pull of their will.

"You do probably understand better than most. When I read a mind, Grace. It's not just words. That's not how people think. People think in pictures, and words, and feelings, and…and in soul. In something I can't describe. I wish you could see it." He says. Then his eyes light up, "Maybe you can."

He leans toward me.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Just hold still Grace," he says. He leans forward until our foreheads are touching. For a second I can watch him reading my mind. But it's not so much reading my mind as reading my soul. And I'm reading his back. We sit like that for a long time, foreheads touching, experiencing each other's very essence. When I finally pull away there are tears on his eyes.

He looks away, "You are good Grace," he says slowly.

"Well, Carter, you are downright amazing." We can't talk for a while. We just sit there and stare at each other.

"Grace, I'm scared," he says.

"It's loud isn't it?" I say.

He nods.

"I was thinking maybe you could be a cop. Human lie detector kind of thing," I offer.

"I don't want to think about the future Grace. I've got enough work trying to figure out tomorrow," he says quietly.

"School is going to be crazy loud eh?" I say.

He flinches.

"Maybe you can shut it off if you practice," I say.

"Ok, Gracie, think," he says teasingly.

Within a few hours he's able tune me out. He's pretty tired.

"I hope tuning it out doesn't wear you out like healing does me. Is your head dizzy?" I ask. He shakes his head. "Gracie, will you tell me a Super Sammy story?" he asks.

He's been too old for them for years. "How about the truth," I say with a smile.

"The truth, dear Gracie is overrated, I don't want any more truth today," he says.

"Ok," I say, but I don't understand it, and he knows that.

"Our parents save the world for a living. They are at risk all the time," he says.

"Not true! Dad's retired, and Mom runs the base, she's safe now," I say.

"I know that control room has been attached at least four times, and I'm pretty sure that's a small fraction of what's gone on at that base."

I brush his bangs away, "Carter, the point of the stories is that they always come home. No matter what, they always come home," I say slowly.

He smiles at me, "You really believe that Grace. That…that helps."

Then I tell him the story of Mommy and the Super soldier. He's never heard that one. It's the ace in the hole to chase away worry.

After leaving Carter's room I hear Mom ask Dad a question before returning to my own room, "Jack, when you say I think too loudly…"

"Just an expression, Sam, just an expression," he says softly.

We're all sitting down to dinner the next day and the doorbell rings.

"Wonder who that is," Mom says.

Carter laughs, looking at me playfully "It's Zack."

I get up to get the door saying, "Play nice."

"How did you know who it was?" Mom asks.

Carter grins, "Gracie knew, she didn't tell you, because Daniel and Teal'c would be here to."

"You are crazy Zach," I say, "Welcome to more insanity." He kisses me softly and innocently.

"This the boyfriend, Grace?" Dad asks with his arms crossed over his chest looking intimidating.

"Yes, I am sir," he says with a smile, "Are you Murray?" he stammers.

"If I was Murray, you would know," Dad says in his scariest voice.

"No, if it was Murray you'd already be on the run. Just my father will be terrorizing you this evening," I say.

"It's good you know about Murray though, don't forget about Murray," Dad says.

Carter comes around the corner, "You know Dad is just like this 'cause he loves you Grace."

I know he's telling me what he's reading in Dad's mind. But I don't care. "Yeah, you talk to me when he starts scaring away your girlfriends. Except he probably won't because you're a boy."

"Carter, nice to finally meet you," Zach says.

Carter stares at him for a second, "Nice to meet you too Zach," he says.

Dad relaxes a bit at that. Carter's opinion counts for a lot more since yesterday. But Dad isn't completely relaxed, "You say a long time, how long have you been seeing my daughter?"

"Six months sir," Zach says.

"Were you aware that Gracie isn't supposed to date anyone who I haven't met?" He asks.

"Grace!" he said, then he turns to Dad, "I'm sorry, sir, I've been asking her to let me meet you for four months. I did not, however, know about that rule."

"Well," Dad says, "At least she told you about Murray. Just to be clear, if you hurt her, Murray will find you anywhere."

"So will I," Carter added.

"Boys," Mom says with a laugh, "Let's move this interrogation to the room with the food."

We all sit down to dinner, and it actually went pretty well. Carter was already adjusting to his new skills. I watched his face as he turned them off and off. But he wasn't turning it off when it came to Zach. Zach was getting a whole different kind of interrogation he didn't even know about.

After dinner I say, "I'm going out with Zach now."

"Are you asking or telling, young lady?" Mom says with a raised eyebrow.

I sigh, "May I go out with Zach?" I ask.

"You may," Dad says. I jump up trying to escape, "But I still want him to actually met Murray sometime."

"Hey Gracie," Carter says. I turn, I know my brother's assessment really matters, "I like him."

"Thanks Carter," I say giving him a big grin.

"Sorry about that, Zach," I said climbing into his car.

"They were not nearly as bad as you made them out to be."

"Yes, because I protected you. I didn't tell them so you only had to deal with the family. Murray is still ahead, and so is Daniel-he has a way with words to watch for."

"But I passed the first round?" he said.

"With flying colors," I say.

We were driving down a twisted mountain road. Zach's car hit ice, and slid off the road. For a second the car was in a free fall. Then it hit the ground-drivers side first.

"Zach! Oh my God! Zach! Answer me!" I'm screaming. I unbuckle my seatbelt, and slide over to his side. I feel for a pulse. Thank God there is a pulse. As I feel for a pulse my hands start to glow. I don't even think about how I'm not supposed to be healing people without security clearance. I just start healing. My glowing hands are over all the wounds that are everywhere on him. I feel his strong will. He's pulling hard for life. I'm pulling for him too.

I'm getting dizzy. But I can't stop. His eyes pop open. "Grace…What happened?"

I'm nauseous now, nauseous just from the dizziness and headache. It's so bad I don't know if I can go on.

"Grace," he's staring at my face, "Are you ok?"

I nod. Maybe he hasn't even seen my hands. He glances down. Oh, he's seen them, but he's more concerned about how sick I am.

"Grace, you need to stop," he says weekly.

"No, Zach," I say weekly.

He takes my hands, and folds them together, "You did enough, I'm not going to die," he says.

I think I'm going to black out, "We have to call my parents. We have to go to the base infirmary. We can't…"

It's awhile later when I open my eyes. I'm laying next to the road, and my head is on Zach's lap.

"You're awake Gracie? Are you ok?" his face is full of concern.

"I'm ok, what about you?" I say.

"I think you got it down mostly to the scratches, you are going to tell me what the hell you did sometime right?"

"Yeah, did you call my parents?"

"Yeah, it was sort of hard to explain…" he says.

"You mentioned the glowing hands and that you are hurt right?" I ask.

"Yeah, they got mad when I mentioned you were unconscious," he says looking at me carefully.

"I promised them I'd never heal until it was dangerous," I said. He's looking at me, "They know someone who died from healing someone to much."

"God, Grace, you should not have risked it," he says brushing the hair from my eyes.

I'm crying, "You would have died, Zach."

"Hey," he says, "Hey, stop it Grace. Not going to die. We're both going to be fine," he says whipping away my tears with his thumb nail.

My Dad's truck pulls up, and Mom is out of it before it even stops, "GRACIE! GRACIE!"

I sit up even though it makes me more dizzy, "I'm ok."

She picks me up, like I'm a rag doll, and carries me to the truck. "Zach was the one who was hurt," I protest.

Carter is helping Zach to the truck. Dad looks over the edge at Zach's car for a second. We he turns back he looks like he's going to throw up.

Mom's lips are really tight like they are when she has something to say, but doesn't want to say it.

"The roads were slippery, it wasn't Zach's fault," Carter offers.

"He reads minds by the way," I say to Zach nodding my head toward my brother.

"Grace," Dad warns.

"Come on, he saw my hands glow, Dad," I protest.

"That doesn't mean he has security clearance, Grace," Mom says.

Zach doesn't look so good. His face is pale. I put my hand close, diagnostic close, instead of healing close. Shit, internal bleeding. I'm about to tell Dad to drive faster, but on these roads I would just be another accident. I know what I have to do.

"Grace," Carter says.

I don't say anything I just beg him to play distraction inside of my mind. He obliges. He is talking to my parents, and I put my hands on Zach's stomach. He tries to pull them away, but he sees my face. He sees terror there, and he doesn't move. I leave my hands there as the dizziness grows, as my head and stomach begin to ach, I leave it there until I pass out.

When I wake up I know I'm in my favorite place. I see the infirmary walls. I roll over, and Teal'c is sitting in there chair.

"How do you feel GraceO'Neill?" he asks.

"Fine, where did my parents go?" I ask.

"There anger was disturbing the other patients. Dr. Lam was required to send them away," he said in a deadpan voice.

"Zach?" I ask.

"You saved me, Grace," Zach's voice came from behind the curtain. I nod toward it, and Teal'c stands up to open it.

"You ok Grace?" he says.

"Yeah, Zach, what did Dr. Lam say about your internal bleeding? Did you need surgery? What is your blood pressure," I said trying to get up.

I feel Teal'c gently lowering me down again, "Your mother wished me to remind you that you are a patient and not a doctor, if it should become necessary."

"This Murray?" Zach asked.

"Yeah, real name Teal'c," I said.

"He's been giving me the silent treatment. I think he's mad at me," Zach said nervously.

"Actually the silent treatment is Teal'c's normal state," I say with a laugh.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

"Ok, not playing doctor, just tell me if he still has internal bleeding," I say.

"No, the doctor said you fixed it all. In fact they are just going to keep me overnight, and I'll be fine," Zach says.

"Did you tell your parents?" I say.

"No, I haven't figured that one out yet. I called the insurance company about the car. But I haven't figured out what I'm going to explain this to them or my parents," he says.

"How about my girlfriend saved me with her superpowers," I said with a smile.

"Yeah, Gracie, about those superpowers…" he says.

"Yeah, I suppose you do deserve an explanation. My dad has a rare gene, and my mom has a weird element in her blood. You put them together and you end up with a weird abilities."

"So it's just a genetic thing, random?" he asked.

"Uh, not exactly my mom picked up her rare element, uh in her work," I say.

"Fallout from Agent Orange?" he asks.

"Umm…Mom wasn't in Vietnam, but something like that." She'd hate that he thought she was that old.

"So are there lots of people with glowing hands?" he asked.

"Uh, they monitor all the people that were exposed to this element, and do genetic testing on their spouses. I mean they have since they found out about me."

"So you and Carter are the only ones?" he asked.

"So far," I say.

"Your kids going to have this?" he asks.

"We're not sure. Kind of new territory. It's possible," I say.

Dr. Lam walks in and she's got that pale faced thin lipped face she wears when one of her patients is in big trouble. I glance at the corner bed, which is empty.

"Grace," she says shaking her head, "You know you can't heal people until you pass out."

"He would have died," I said.

"You've had people you were healing die on you before Grace. You know better than to risk your life!" She's furious.

"This was Zach, I couldn't let Zach die," I said shocked that she wouldn't see the difference.

"You are Grace, we don't want you to die either," she says.

"How serious is this?" I say.

"Grace, you have almost no white blood cells. Your condition is compounded by the fact that you had quite a few injuries of your own when the healing was taking place. We've given you a blood transfusion, and repaired the damage as much as we could. Grace, it doesn't look good."

Zach is seriously freaking out right now.

I close my eyes, "Has Mom tried the healing device?" I ask.

"Your mom isn't very good at that thing. We need a Tok'ra to do a good job of it. We've called them, but they haven't come yet. They don't always come."

"Right, I'm usually your first line of defense in this kind of thing," I say closing my eyes.

I look over at Zach he's crying.

"Zach, it's going to be alright," I say.

"You can't die for me," he says.

"No one is dying," Zach.

"I love you Grace," he says.

"Holy Hannah!" I say.

"Don't die," he says.

"I love you too Zach," I say. I'm thinking, thinking about how I can save myself. Suddenly Carter enters the room. He grins, "That's a great idea Grace!" He turns to Dr. Lam, "Where do you keep the healing device?"

She wrinkles her forehead.

"We have naquada in our blood," I explain.

"Naquada isn't enough, you have to know how to heal," Dr. Lam says.

"Uh…Carter can read minds, and he read my mind to see what healing was like," I explain.

"I think I can do this, let me try," he says.

"It's a long shot," Dr. Lam says all thin lipped, "But she is our Gracie. I'll be right back."

Carter looks really nervous as he stands over me. His hand is shaking as it hovers over my body.

"It's ok," I think. "Try your best. If I die, it's my own fault. Just get it closer, that's it. See the white blood cells. Ok, just puff the dead ones. That's it you're doing it. I really want to live, feel it? Feel it? It will help you. Now poof some more blood cells. Stop if you get a headache. I don't know if it happens with these devices, but we don't need two sick people. You are a natural Carter. Oh, you popped one, a bit more gentle. But it's ok, it's only one. You know how many of those things die a day? Ok, it's ok, you're doing good. Feeling stronger already. Don't forget the ones still in the bone marrow. Those are probably the most important. That's it. You're getting them. Still ok Carter?"

"I'm fine, Grace," he says out loud. It's long minutes with my brain guiding his before the healing device shuts off, and I know the job is done.

Carter take my hand. I smile up at him, "Good job, kid."


	4. Anna

Carter's POV

Carter is 17, Gracie is 22

I started playing cards because it was exciting. So exciting that for the time I was at the card table, betting my shirt, I could think of nothing else but the game.

Even the most exciting things become dull with familiarity. Even a Jaffa's poker face is easy for a mind reader to read.

"Carter!" Gracie's voice calls to me. Even the angry voice of my sister doesn't pierce the fog of the thing I do not want to think about. "You get out of this place right now!" She demands. There is a threat underneath her words. She's threatening to tell these people I'm underage. But she isn't going to do it. She's caught me gambling countless times, and has turned me over neither to police, management, or parents.

"Let me finish the hand," I say.

A wave of smoke blows toward her. Usually this would make her look annoyed, today it makes her look worried, "Carter," she says with an edge of panic in her voice.

"Alright already, coming," I say grudgingly.

"What is wrong?" I ask examining my sister's face once we are outsidde. "You need me to use the healing device? Are you sick?" I ask.

"I'm fine," she says.

"You look week," I push.

"We weren't going to tell anyone yet," she says, "But you see too much. Go ahead, and look in my mind," she says.

I haven't been inside of Gracie's mind in a long time. She hates me to be in there, and I hate being in there just as much. But I look inside. It isn't in words, a lot of people's thoughts are images and feelings. Gracie's thoughts right now are something that looks like an ultrasound, and unbelievable happiness, and Gracie's hand on her own stomach."

I grin, "Congratulations Grace! Is Zach over the moon?" Gracie and Zach only got married half a year ago, and I'm not sure if this kid is planned. But I do know Grace is happy. I can feel her happiness, and she is very happy.

"Yeah, we weren't expecting on having a kid quite this soon. But once we heard about it…" she grins.

I think about the kid, and suddenly I gasp.

"What?" Grace asks.

"I read the babies thoughts for a second," I say.

"What do babies who do not quite have brains yet think about?" she asks. You would think she was mocking me, but she wasn't.

"It wasn't thoughts, you know it's not normally thoughts Grace. But it was different than reading an adult's brain too. It was more like a presence, a sign announcing 'I am here.'"

Gracie grins, "Thanks for that, Carter." Then she gets serious, "I came here to ask you to spend a week with us at our house."

"Why?" I ask suspiciously.

"Because I love you, and I think you could use some time away from your 'friends'. I know we're only a half hour away, but I think it would be good for you.:

"You are nesting, and you need someone to mother hen Gracie. In case you forgot, I already have a mother," I say.

"Right, so I'll just let her know why I'm concerned about you. Let her take care of it," she says.

"Gracie we both know you aren't a tattle tale, so let's drop it," I say.

"There is a fine line between tattling and intervention," she says.

"Gracie," I say drawing the word out.

"Carter, you graduated from school years early. Great. Then for the past six months you have been gambling. Gambling and doing nothing. Carter you should be in school, a job, a hobby."

"Gambling is a hobby," I say.

She glares at me, "So help me I will tell Mom you are not volunteering at that special ed school mom thinks you are at when you are gambling."

I look away, "I go to that school Gracie."

"You do?" she asks. "That's good. Do you like it?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I say.

"Right, confidentiality," she says, smiling, "I'm glad you are doing something with your life, but that's ten hours a week. It's not exactly a life plan."

"Grace, drop it," I say.

She pauses, "Look, Carter, I'm no mind reader," bad joke I think, "but I know something has been bothering you for a while. Will you tell me what it is?"

"Gracie," I say taking her hands, "These can fix a lot of people. They can't fix me. So focus on someone you can," I say tossing the hands away from me.

"Hey, you are my brother," she says.

I sit down. "Gracie, I've been reading minds again." I say.

"While gambling," she continues.

"No…" I say slowly, "At the special ed school."

She make a face, but I can tell she's trying not to be judgmental, "You are reading those kid's minds?"

"She's my age," I say. She locks eyes with me, and she's beging to get it, but she doesn't yet. "Her name is Annie. She's non-verbal. That means she doesn't talk. But inside of her head…It's beautiful, Grace. She's smart. She paints inside of her head. She talks with the paintings. No one has ever understood her, and I do. But I can't tell anyone why I understand her. Why I know she's screaming because she wants a book or a snack. And I can't really talk to her. I can only talk to her in words, and she barely understand words."

I look into Gracie's eyes and she really gets it, "Are you in love with her?" she asks.

"Yes, but I don't even know…I mean inside her brain, she doesn't even know I exist," I say.

"Carter, that is awful!" she says touching my arm. I nod. "But it isn't a reason to waste your life."

"Grace, I don't know what I want to do with my life. The only thing I've ever been good at is poker. So I'm playing some poker until I get my life figured out."

"Carter," she laughs, "You are good at a lot of things. You were a star student. I guarantee you'd do great in college."

"I don't want to go to college until I know what I'm going to college for," I tell her.

"Ok, that's actually a smart plan, but you are good at a lot of other things. You are great with people. Great at making people feel comfortable. Great at convincing them. Great a teaching them. You could be a psychologist, or a teacher, or a lawyer, or a businessman."

"Gracie…" I try to interrupt.

"Or a diplomat."

"Hey, Grace, are you going to keep working at the SGC now that you have a baby on the way?" I ask.

"Quit trying to change the subject," she says, "If you like working at the school, maybe you should…"

"Gracie, it isn't the school that make it fun. It's being with one particular person."

"Ok, Carter, I'm just worried about you. I get that you are trying to find yourself, but I just don't want you to be looking for ever."

"Ok, Grace," I say with a smile. She gives me a hug, and leaves. It's two hours before my usual volunteer hours, but I don't really feel like gambling around after that conversation, so I head to the school.

Mrs. Grene greets me at the door, "Thank goodness you are here!" she exclaims, "Anna is panicking and we don't know why.

I don't even have to read her mind to figure out some of the reasons why she's freaking out. She's in a corner screaming and rocking, and there are three adults standing by her. People with autism often hate crowds to begin with, and this has got to be intimating.

"Let me," I say with a disarming smile. They let me through, and I tell her, "Anna, I'm going to touch your shoulder." When she is warned before you touch her she actually likes the touch. Otherwise it is sure to make her go berserk. Actually the different ways she responds to touch with and without warning is one of the few ways we know for sure she understands some of the language she hears.

When my fingers first make contact with her shoulder it is tense, but it relaxes under my touch. I started to feel her thoughts when I crossed into the same side of the room. It is full of terror, and pain, and a sound. What is that sound?

"Was someone using the pencil sharpener?" I ask. Another student gave me a sheepish look. "OK, you are going to have to move that to another room. It terrifies her."

One of the teachers moves it away. "It ok, Anna," I tell her, "The noise won't happen again."

Her eyes lock on mine. Eye contact, something she never gives to anyone but me, she gave me that the very first day I met her. "Carter," she says with her mouth. Her first word. With her brain she says more: trust, happy, thank you.

"Carter," she repeats clearly expecting a response.

"Anna," I say.

She giggles a huge smile crossing her face, "Carter," she says.

Quickly I reply, "Anna." It's a silly game. But a game with words and eye contact. Two things her file says she'd never do.

It's time for me to leave, but I didn't think I gave any sign of it. I don't glance at the clock or the door, but I must have had some give away. Because she looks at the clock, thinks an image of me leaving, and says my name with sadness, "Carter."

"Anna, I have to go home now," I say.

She shakes her head, "Carter," she insists.

"How about I stay until you leave?" I ask.

She smiles at me. I help her with her math. Counting, adding, and subtracting. After each number that is written in her perfect handwriting she looks at me, desperate for approval. "That is right, Anna," I reward her. She rewards me with a burst of joy at my praise.

A woman comes in. She's young and strong, and she heads right over to Anna, "It's time to go home," she says.

Anna grabs on to my arm, and says, "Carter!"

Her mother opens her eyes wide, "Anna you spoke, wonderful!"

Anna hides her face.

"Anna!" I say.

She peeks out from under her fingers and says, "Carter!"

"You are Carter?" she asks, "The teachers have said you've been amazing for my daughter!"

I blush a little at her words, and shake the hand she extends toward me.

"I can't believe Anna says your name. She doesn't talk," I say.

"I know, but she can say an awful lot without words," I say.

She cocks her head, "That is something I've been saying for years, but most people don't believe me."

"Anna, you have to go home now," I say.

She smiles, "Carter?"

"Yeah, I'll be here tomorrow. I have to enjoy these words you are throwing at me."

As Anna's mother turns I see a scar on the back of her neck, and I think I know what it means. Her hand goes to the scar self-consciously when she sees my eyes upon it.

"Do you work at Cheyenne Mountain, by any chance?" I ask.

She nods.

"Deep space telepathy?" I ask.

There is a slightly suspicious intake of breath as she nods again.

"My parents too, and…my mom has a scar like that," It's not technically true. Mom doesn't actually have a scar. But the thing that makes scars like that happened to her as well as it did to this women.

"Who is your mother?" she asks with a narrowing of the eyes.

"Samantha O'Neill," I say.

She raises an eyebrow, "You're the General's boy?"

"Yes, ma'am," I say.

"You'll have to tell her Colonel Elliot says hi. Your mother…actually took quite an interest in my when I was a snooty little Cadet Hailey."

"I'll make sure to tell her," I say.

"And your father is…well the other General O'Neill correct?" she continues.

I nod.

"Well, I wouldn't expect anything less than amazing from two fine officers like your parents. You thinking of joining the Air Force yourself?" she asks.

I try not to show the slight distain I've developed for the military, and its tendency to make family events difficult. "No Ma'am, can't say I've given it to much thought, but I don't really know what I'm going to do with my life yet."

"Well, it seems any field would be lucky to have you. Those are some good genetics," she says.

Genetics.

That night at dinner

"Did you see your sister today?" There is an edge of worry in Mom's voice as he puts about twice as many vegetables on my plate as I would ever eat.

"Yep, got the patented Gracie, "figure out your life," lecture," I say.

"She's just worried about you," Dad says in a ways which clearly implies they all are.

"A girl at the school, she talked for the first time, today," I say it partly to change the subject of course, but I also need to tell someone about Anna's accomplishments.

"Yeah, what did she say?" Mom asks only have interested.

"My name," I say. Both my parents look up at me in surprise.

"That's great!" Mom says.

"Sounds like you are really making a difference," Dad says with a grin.

"Yeah, well Anna and I are friends," I say. "I meet her mom today. She works at the SGC, name is Colonel Elliot."

"Really? You are working with Elliot's daughter?" Mom says. "I used to sort of be her mentor. But once she made Major, and had her daughter, and I took the year off to stay with you-"she points her fork at me, "we sort of lost touch. I mean she works for me of course, but I don't see her more than any of my other subordinates," Mom says.

"Yeah, she said you really helped her out when she was young. And she seemed to have a little hero worship for Dad,"

Dad gets a puffed up proud face at that comment, and if I'm not mistaken Mom looks a little jealous.

"You know, I think we should have them over for dinner. It's her and her husband, and how many daughters did they have Jack?"

Dad is still gloating, because someone called him a hero. If anyone knew what he'd done with his career they'd be calling him that all the time, "Three?" he asks.

"Something like that. The oldest was born not long after Jennifer got back from that…." Mom suddenly remembers I'm in the room, "that really unfortunate incident on that planet."

Dad nods, not at all jarred by the sudden slip into code. "Yes, I remember the timing was so close we were all worried…well, that the child wasn't entirely terrestrial."

"Guys, I have to ask you…I mean I saw Anna's mom's scar," I say touching the part of my neck where Gou'ald enter the host, "Was that before she had kids?" I ask.

Mom nods.

"Ok, her kids have naquada? I mean, were they tested for special talents?" I ask.

"Her husband doesn't have the ancient gene," Dad says.

"What about Jennifer?" I ask.

Four eyes fix themselves on me in shock, "Oh, my God we never tested Jennifer!" Mom says.

"The kids are all young enough they wouldn't be showing their powers yet, right?" Dad asks.

I shake my head, "I don't know about her sisters, but Anna is my age."

"But she's in a special school, she doesn't have special powers," Mom says, "I mean…we'd know, it's not like she'd be able to hide them."

"Unless she reads minds, and she can't tell us, because she can't talk."

Four stunned eyes on me, "You think she reads minds?"

"The thought did cross my mind," I say.

"Did you read her reading your mind?" Mom asks, and even with her strange words I know exactly what she meant.

"Nothing quite that concrete. It's more like she knows things no one ever told her. More like she knows far more about me than she knows about anyone else. Like…I don't know like our brains are both running on a different computer hardware than the rest of the world. Like I'm the only one who is compatible with her."

Mom's forehead furrows at this. She heard in this statement something that I didn't say. She doesn't like that I'm in love with a non verbal autistic girl. Whose Mom would be?

"Maybe she just connects with you, because you can read her mind," Dad says.

"Of course, that is part of it…but…and the way she looks at me. I don't know. And when I first started going, reading her mind was the same as reading anyone else's mind. It was like I was taking information. At some point it started to be like she was giving information. I don't know quite how to explain it, but it's almost like she knows what I'm doing. That she's trying to help me do it."

Mom gives a worried glance to Dad. I hate that it's a worried glance. It makes me feel like what Grace calls herself, "freak". Would it be a bad thing if the world had three more kids with ancient powers? A little telepathy or telekinesis, or healing hands wouldn't be a bad thing would it? I'm not a bad thing am I?

But the truth is it is hard to be different. I mean Grace has done well with it, but really she won the ancient powers jackpot. She gets to make sick people well. She saves people coming through the gate with alien diseases and wounds from angry alien weapons. She saves people no one else can.

I have a gift that isn't a signpost to the rest of my life. I feel like I've been given this huge gift, and I'm wasting it. I worry about it a lot. If I wasn't the only one with this gift-even if Anna could never use it-I would still feel better. Like, I'm not the only freak! Besides, Anna has two sisters.

A week later

Grace has given me the "do something with your life" lecture more times than I can count. I really don't know why it sunk in this time when all the other times it fell on deaf ears, but it worked. Grace got under my skull, and I've become a productive member of society. Sort of. Anyway I've started spending all of every workday volunteering at the special school. And, much to my parents (particularly mom's) delight I've filled out some college aps. Even with a year off I'll still be heading to college a year early. I figured special educator is something I can do.

Summer break is less than a month away, so my productive citizen bit will fall apart when that comes. There are a few kids who go to the school in the summer, so I'll probably come sometimes, but…none of them are Anna.

Anna's mom is at the door. When she sees me she touches the Gou'ald entry scar. It's a habit she does every time she sees me. I hate to be a reminder of the worse moment in someone's life. God, I hope that was the worst moment in her life.

"Hi!" she says with a smile. But it turns to worry pretty quick, "Carter, you Mom wants me to take Anna to the infirmary in Cheyenne mountain? Do you know what that is about?" And I fell such intense worry I think I'm going to throw up. I really try not to read parent's minds, because I can't take the intensity of worry. I am so not ready to be a parent, yet. Probably never, if they go around feeling like that. Although, I've felt parental pride too, and I've got to admit…that is something I don't want to miss out on.

"Probably just a routine…" I say.

She shakes her head, "When Anna was born…" she says looking away, "It's not about that is it?"

I bite my lip. I don't know how to answer her exactly. I don't just mean I don't know whether to lie or not. I mean I don't know if this has to do with what happened, because I don't know what it is.

"I think they are just wondering if…if there are any side effects from something you might have been exposed to in the field," I respond glancing at the scar.

Her eyes go wide, "I heard something about you having some side effects," she says carefully. I think this might have been the first time she connected who I was with the fact that I must be the boy with super powers she heard about. I wonder if anyone told her what the super powers were.

"Not particularly bad ones," I say with a smile.

"Thanks, I was..." she says.

"worried, I know." I say.

"I'll bet you did," she says. Good, she does know I'm a mind reader. "But I wanted to ask you something else. What are your summer plans, Carter?" she asks.

Ok, my summer plans involve finally reading my mom's wormhole book, fishing, and memorizing the jokes in family guy. Not what you want to tell the mother of the girl you are in love with though, "Uh…they aren't really firmed up yet."

"I was wondering," she says, "Don't feel like you have to, ok?" she says. Nervousness is my least favorite emotion to accidently read. I suppose it is because I always feel like it is my fault. If I put them properly at ease they wouldn't feel that way. "I mean, you are so good with Anna. You've made more progress with her in the few weeks you have been at this program than she made in the rest of her life all together. I was planning on hiring a private tutor for her this summer. I just thought…I mean I think you'd be perfect for the job."

I bite my lip. Being paid to teach Anna? It sounded almost too good to be true. "Carter," Anna says. I make a point of responding every time Anna says something, since words are so new for her. But this time I do not turn or say a word.

"Carter, yes!" she says stomping her foot.

I turn to her and smile, "Yes, Anna, I'll be your teacher this summer," I say.

"Don't let her bully you into it," her mom says with a laugh.

I take her chin in my hand, "Anna, you can bully me any time you wants, as long as you use the beautiful words."

"Yes, Carter," she says, and I swear her inflection has a touch of sarcasm in it.

A week later

Grace's voice is a little strained on the phone, "Carter." My stomach falls, who is hurt? Teal'c? He's old but Jaffa don't get old the same way that we do so he's still fighting on the front lines. Daniel? He is doing real archeological work on safe planets, but if ever there was a person who could get hurt on a "safe" planet it would be our Daniel. God, it could be mom, the base isn't exactly what you'd call safe.

"Carter, did you hear me?" she asks.

"No, I'm sorry, just hurry up and tell me who is hurt," she says.

"You are a bad guesser for a mind reader," she says. "No one is hurt. Uh…Anna is here though. Her mom took her in for a check-up. She has the ancient gene."

"So she must have one of the powers," I say.

"Right, and your instincts must have been right about the mind reading, because people would have noticed anything else," she says.

"Yeah," I say. It's usually pretty hard to read someone's mind over the phone. That's why Grace likes to talk to me that way. She says it puts her on equal footing. But today I'm getting a feeling. It's hope rolled in caution. In other words the kind of hope that doctors give away. "What is it, Grace?" I ask.

"She has naquada in her blood," Grace says.

"Of course she does! Kind of what happens when one of your parents is a former Gou'ald host,"

"Actually it is what happens when your mother is a former Gou'ald host. If your father is a Gou'ald host the naquada transferred by the sperm is so small it is not noticeable. When your mother is the former host you have nine months to absorb her blood through your umbilical cord. I'm sorry I'm boring you," she says.

"Not at all. It's actually sort of fascinating. But you were telling me what is wrong with Anna."

"She has a lot more naquada in her blood that you or I. Actually a lot more even than a former host has. Even more than a Tok'ra."

"What?"

"Carter, naquada is a heavy medal. It's been poisoning her brain."

"What?" I nearly shout.

"It isn't dangerous is small quantities like you or I. They mistakenly thought that all children of mothers who were hosts had the same levels. They didn't test. It was stupid," she says.

"Something that will not happen once they put you in charge," I tease. Grace is modest so she tries to brush away teasing like that, but the truth be told she will no doubt take control of that place someday. Probably after she raises a couple of kids, but she's already pretty qualified.

"We're taking the naquada out of her blood, right now," Grace says.

"That is possible?" I ask.

"Yeah, we've known how to do it the whole time. It's a sort of modified kidney dialysis machine. But we never saw any reason it do it, because naquada offers some pretty great benefits without any side effects besides having the SGC as your main doctor.

"Not a side effect with you working at the SGC," I say. I'm always trying to boast Gracie's self-esteem; she is a bit short in that department. It suddenly occurs to me that Grace has Uncle Daniel's self-esteem. I'll have to remember to tease them about that one.

"The point is," she says with a voice edged in annoyance, "We might be able to cure her."

"Cure her mind reading?" I ask with a knot in the pit of my stomach. I'm something that needs to be cured?

"No, you idiot, cure you autism," she says. I'm stunned. Too stunned to actually believe her.

"So you are telling me everyone with autism has an overdose of an alien element in their blood. You think that would be a little hard to keep out of the news."

"No, I'm saying this one case of autism like behavior is caused by an overdose of a heavy medal in her blood. Now don't get your hopes up. Heavy medals are a difficult things. She's had this poison in her body her whole life. There could very easily be permanent damage. And if she doesn't have the language…even if she is cured this late in life…"

"She has language…she understands language," I say. I hope I am right. I hope she wasn't just reading people's minds the whole time.

"Right, but just don't get your hopes up too much. But we're taking the medal out right now."

"Can I see her?" I ask.

"You know, her mom actually asked me to invite you. But…you didn't ask why she had so much naquada in her blood."

"I just figured, because her mom got pregnant so soon after being a host."

"Her mom was pregnant when she was taken over," Grace said.

"I thought that resulted in a miscarriage," I say. I'm not sure if the image that popped into my brain was from my own brain, that of my sister's, or someone's brain. That is the hard part of mind reading. But the image is powerful. There is a little baby-at the stage where it still looks like a strange alien fish baby-and its whole body is taut. It's fighting, it's trying to live. "Wow," I say.

"What did you see?" Grace asks.

"She was a fighter," I say.

"Yeah, I don't know how she would have survived that. She never should have. Jennifer says that she thought for sure she must have got pregnant after the Tok'ra removed her Gou'ald from her. She didn't think there was anyway a baby could have survived a blending, let alone the torture. But now that she thinks about it the Tok'ra did spend a bit of time with a healing device on her stomach after they got that Gou'ald out of her. She just never bothered to ask what it meant, back then," she says.

"Well, I'm guessing she was fairly traumatized at the time," I say.

"Right, and when a blending takes places there is a rush of naquada…" Gracie starts.

"So she's the baby who wasn't supposed to live, and you're telling me there is a tiny chance she's going to come out of this perfectly fine. Seventeen years later, but perfectly fine?" I ask.

"Small chance," she says, "more likely you'll have an exciting summer watching slow but steady improvements.

"I'll take that," I said. "So our naquada…"

"Is perfectly safe, but you can have it removed if you want," Grace says.

"Who is going to save you if you need a healing device, then? Besides, I can't pass it on to my kids. But you can heal anyway, and you could pass it on to your kids, so maybe you should consider it. But oh god, it's too late anyway, isn't it? I'm sorry, I'm a jerk!"

Gracie laughs, "Don't think I didn't consider it, Carter, but I decided to have a kid with naquada blood and the ancient gene. I figured these gifts are worth passing on, don't you?"

And for the first time-someone choose this. Chooses this not for themselves, but for their kid which is the most powerful kind of choosing there is. I know this because, I've felt a parent's love, and…and Gracie choose freakdom for her baby. I feel ok for the first time in a long time.

Early the next morning

I finally convinced her parents to go home. I told them I'd take the night shift. She was mostly sleeping. Mostly calm when awake after I convinced them to get the blinking machines out of there, so she stopped screaming.

"Carter," she says.

"Yes Anna, I'm here," I say.

She blinks at me as if she's confused. I'm thinking of how to put what they are doing to her into words she can understand. She looks at me, "Where did the cloud go?"

I'm so shocked at the amount of words I can't even try to understand or respond.

"The cloud, that choked out other people's thoughts. That scrambled their words. Where did the cloud go?" she asks again.

"You had heavy medal poisoning," she looks at me confused, "You had bad stuff in your blood. It hurt your mind."

Her forehead is furrowed, "The cloud was only mine? You do not have a cloud?" she asks examining my face.

"No," I say.

She shakes her head, "You…you are the melter of clouds."

"No, I'm a mind reader, like you," I say.

"No, cloud melter, Carter," she says with certainty. There doesn't seem to be anything else to say, but I am desperate for her to talk. For me to know how well she can talk.

"Do you know where you are?" I ask her.

Her eyes dart around, "Sickgone," she says as if it was one word.

"The hospital, where people go to get better," I correct.

"Yes, Carter, sickgone," she says as if she is trying to teach ME a word."

"No, it's actually called a hospital," I say.

She shrugs her shoulders, "sickgone."

Three months later

Gracie was right about having an interesting summer watching Anna make slow but steady gains. I spent eight or more hours a day over at her house. I got to know her parents, and her younger sisters, one of whom started prophesying over the summer.

Anna has finally gotten more flexible in her use of language. She observed some language, and invented most of her own language in those long years she was trapped inside of her own brain, because of a heavy medal induced fog. It took awhile to convince her that, "tree dogs," were called "monkeys," "sleepplaces" were called "beds" and "readpapers" were called "books." But at some point her trust of me became so great she learned new words.

We worked on reading and writing. At the beginning of the summer she could barely sound out words. By the end of the summer we were discussing the literary merits of _The Lion the Which and the Wardrobe_ and _Where the Red Fern Grows_ that she read aloud to me_. _We spent the summer learning to write good essays, and stories. But poems full of metaphors came easy to her. Before the "cloud was melted" math had been her strength. At the beginning of the summer she had already mastered all math up to long division. By the end of the summer she could do the beginnings of algebra. She was almost eighteen by the time school began, but kids with disabilities can stay in school until they turn 21, so she still three years of high school left. She'd been in special classes at a special school since she entered school. So in the fall when she entered regular classes for the first time it felt like her first day of school. I walked her to the front door of my old school. My stomach was aching. I would be leaving for college tomorrow. I never told her.

"Carter," she says carefully turning to me. I nod to her. Her language is so normal she doesn't need me to respond to every word in order to keep talking, so I just nod. "I feel the same way," she says with a smile.

"What?" I ask not daring to hope she meant what I thought she meant.

She leans forward, "I love you, Carter, and when I'm worthy of you we will be together."

"You have been worthy of me ever since we met," I say.

"I love that you really believe that, Carter," she says. And then the woman I love gives me my first kiss. It's perfect.


End file.
